When a Maxwell Goes Missing
by Covenmouse
Summary: In which Duo learns a valuable lesson. No EW, placed after fic "Work in Progress," but not a required read.


Wufei unlocked the door to the new flat on Jefferson street with something of a smile ghosted across his face. After checking to make certain that none of their neighbors were in the hallway, he took a moment to simply look at the key he was using. The pink gleamed a little in the light shed by the wall-lamp to the right of the apartment door, highlighting the tiny red hearts printed all over it. He'd huffed when Duo had given it to him the day before.

With a shake of his head, the man turned the knob and opened the door to apartment 205, barely suppressing his laughter as he remembered touring the place with Duo two weeks prior. They hadn't even seen the bedroom yet and the braided man had been going on about it being 'fate.' Perhaps he had something there.

"Honey, I'm home," he sing-songed ironically and stopped to hang his coat up on the peg beside the door. The door locked behind him automatically, just as they'd set it up to do, and Wufei managed to get his coat and scarf tucked away and boots off before he realized that Duo hadn't answered him. "Duo?"

A small lump on the couch raised its head and mewled at him; Wufei was not fooled. Giving the mangy cat known only as "Rattrap" a distrustful look, Wufei sidestepped the couch and headed into Duo's domain: the kitchen.

The white and yellow, sun-shine happy area was as clean as a whistle. Wufei had no doubt that he probably could eat off of the floor in here, if he ever felt the need to. Speaking of food, there was nothing in the oven waiting to be heated up, and no notes on anything in the refrigerator. Nor, Wufei noted, was there anything scrawled on the message board in the corner. All signs pointed to Duo being home.

With a frown that wasn't just for the cat rubbing itself against his leg in an attempt to lure him into a false set of security (likely to lead to yet another set of scratches and a tetanus shot—why Duo wouldn't just let him get the cat declawed Wufei couldn't understand,) Wufei moved through the half-doors at the back end of the kitchen and into the hallway beyond.

He rapped lightly at the first door on the left and the door swung open a little without further prompting. Ducking his head in, Wufei noted that Duo had left the lamp on in his study, but wasn't there. He rolled his eyes and went in long enough to turn it off. Moving on, the man checked his own study next, though there was no reason to. The hall bathroom didn't respond when he knocked on it, and it wasn't locked.

The door at the end of the hallway opened up into their bedroom, a rather large affair with three french windows that he'd fallen in love with. Duo complained, idly, that he felt like he lived in a fish bowl; Wufei supposed that that was where the brand new drapes had come from. He snorted at them, but rather than investigate, turned in the direction of the bathroom. There was water running.

"Duo?" He called needlessly.

"Fei?" The man's voice yelped from beyond the door. Any and all thoughts Wufei might have had about barging in on a shower fled his mind and he frowned once more. "You home already?"

"Yeah," he drawled in return. "You ok?"

Rattrap went to the bathroom door and pawed against it. Wufei glared at the cat, but had to follow. He leaned against the woodwork and kept an eye on the pesky feline. "Uhh," Duo said after a moment and then laughed. "Yeah I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Wufei rolled his eyes and turned the knob. "I know that tone, Max—the hell?"

The glass enclosure of the spa tub in the master bath was filled with… white. Wufei was fairly certain that the glass had been clear that morning, if a little steam-clouded, and whatever this was it was _not_ steam. With a jarring 'thump' a hand pressed itself against the other side of the glass. Wufei watched for only a moment as that hand pawed at the side of the glass, trying to open the door through friction, before he rushed across the space between them.

Just as the glass was sliding open, something dark, mangy and devious ran across his path. Wufei yelped as his foot connected with scrawny, but solid, body and he went buckling forward. He had just enough time to register the two arms sticking out of a giant wall of white before he was caught by them and pulled down into the warm, wet, blob-like mass.

Water and foam went everywhere.

Soaked and covered in what appeared to be bubbles, Wufei stared up at the ceiling a moment before he turned to the lover who had caught him. "Duo, what are you doing?"

Duo loosened one hand from about the Chinese man long enough to raise a finger pointedly. "I have learned a valuable lesson today."

Those mischievous cobalt blue eyes twinkled at him from above a foam mustache and beard. "Do not, under any circumstances, put bubble bath into the water if you plan on using jets."

A/N: For those who might be wondering, Chapter Seven of WIP _is_ on its way! X3 life struck hard, but I'm pulling it back together. Also, I now have a beta. She is awesome.


End file.
